


Journey To the Past

by M_Logolepsy



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (we'll fucking SEE on that one because i cannot hold myself back ever), Alternate Universe - Royalty, Amnesia, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Inspired by Anastasia (1997), M/M, Slow Burn, dav and merle as parents, refound family, sorry dnd nerds elves age like humans in this one because the Plot Demands It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Logolepsy/pseuds/M_Logolepsy
Summary: The nightmare is always the same.His home burns around him. He hears screams in a distant room, and then his other half is pulling his hand and whispering his name. Whispering to hurry, they know we're all missing, we have to go before they kill us too.They're running, and a boy that he trusts with his whole heart is pulling him by one arm while he's dragging his other half by another, who has one arm outstretched casting as many fireballs as she can behind her. His best friends- his brothers- are running after them, yelling as his other half casts counters to cover them. His tiniest sister is in his brother's arms, and then the boy he trusts shows them the escape and tells them to go. To run. He'll protect them.He never sees him again. He never sees any of them again.Ko wakes up in a cold sweat. His chest burns and his head aches, and then, as easily as he remembered, he forgets it all.(an anastasia au)





	1. A Rumor in Tosun

There’s a whisper among the streets of Tosun, under the beck and call of everyday life. A story told and twisted, a handful of names and words staying true, a string of such catching the ears of two.

The first, a lone man in the street, his first day leaving the only place he’s ever known- except, he thinks, he’s certain that he’s known another place. The cold upbringing that fills his memory doesn’t match with the echoes that reach him now and again- Someone calling his name- he’s certain it’s his name, even if he can’t remember all the syllables- like it’s a lifeline. A kind hand through his hair. A voice singing praise that lights his chest like kindling. Strong arms around him, holding him tight- those thing don’t come from a life spent in an cruel orphanage. That feeling of another soul yearning for his own- that doesn’t come from a life uncared for. When he hears those words, he reaches under his shirt and pulls out half of a locket. In its rusted frame, a face that looks haunting like his own rests and yet he’s entirely certain it’s someone else. He has no proof for that fact. His fingers trace the edges of the outside, where the hinges snapped, separating it from its matching half. He thinks, without consciously calling to the thought, that he can relate. 

It’s that errant thought that sends his ears snapping up in search of where the sound had come from, in the direction of a path just off the bustling central street of the city. 

The second is a man lost in his thoughts. He’s not alone, his confused friend with him. It’s not that he doesn’t like or trust the man- of course not, he’s certain he might be the only one he can say he does, actually- but sometimes he rambles off in a string he’s not even sure his friend is following and his own attention drifts. He remembers a different place- a castle, lit by light and filled with warmth. A family of seven that cared for their people and a people that cared for them. He remembers a face like his friend’s on a boy he knew there long ago, but he tries to force down. No one survived, he tells himself. He tried for otherwise, he truly did, but no one survived. It’s not him- what are the odds? When he hears the words, though, he knows in his gut that sometimes the world is full of terrible odds. It twists his gut, at first, but then, almost as quickly, it begins to twist in his mind. It’s not the first time the plot has come to mind- he knows exactly the details that they’d need to pull it off, and he and Barry really do need to make it out of Tosun before they get themselves killed with their schemes. Those words strike him with inspiration to say, “Come on, I’ve got an idea,” before chasing down the voice. 

See, there’s magic in a bard’s song, and it’s called inspiration. That’s exactly the force that strikes these two now, sending them from opposite directions to meet in the middle. Even though Kravitz is right- the world is full of terrible odds, after all- the world is also full of magic. It’s this everyday magic that wills this tale to be on this on this day, even if the origins of it reach back to a night a decade before and then days earlier than that still. 

The bard in question knows none of this, though. He wasn’t even meaning to grant inspiration, and he wasn’t even singing, but sometimes, the most mundane whispered story told to another outside a store front can change everything.  
“Hey, you know that music box that you found in the castle?” 

The merchant squares him with a look. “Yeah? What about it?” 

“Do you think it could’ve belonged to the prince?” 

The merchant rolls her eyes. “Oh, gods, you’re on about that again?” 

This is the mistake that sets this story in motion- he says, accidentally loudly enough to echo through the street, “What, come on! Everyone knows the rumor that Prince Taako really survived!” 

The last fragment is what catches the aforementioned sets of ears. The lonely man moves, maybe faster than he should, through the sidestreet to approach the bard and his friend. He reaches the pair just before Kravitz, with Barry in tow, can. 

“What rumor?” he asks. 

The bard and the merchant share a look, the merchant’s almost pleading. It’s fruitless, though. The bard breaks into a dazzling grin and turns to the lonely man. “Why, haven’t you heard?” he calls out in the voice of a showman. 

Kravitz and Barry stop a few feet away, listening in as a few stray eyes turn to do the same. It’s not the first time the bard has put on a show like this. 

The man’s eyes narrow. “Uh, what else would I mean by ‘what rumor’? No, I haven’t.” 

“Ha,” the bard laughs dryly. “Who among us haven’t heard the whispers that Prince Taako of the Royal Birds lives?” 

“Me!” the man calls back at him as the bard jumps on top of the merchant’s stand, using it as an impromptu stage to speak to the growing crowd. “I literally just said I hadn’t heard the rumor!” 

The bard takes his complaints easily in stride. “Well, a decade ago, before the revolution, there was a family that ruled over these lands. They weren’t like anything the rest of the world had ever seen- and, if you ask me, that’s why I believe that they were so feared. Their difference, though, won them the heart of Tosun. At least, for a time. The Royal Birds were a family like no other- ruled by Kings Davenport and Highchurch, the Birds were comprised of brilliant children, orphans like so many of this fair city, that the kings had taken to. Back in their hayday, there was a rumor that they couldn’t help but take them in- that even Davenport, the stricter of the two kings, had a bleeding heart for those like them trying to overcome the world that had tossed them aside. A family of misfits? An anomaly. A royal family, though? This was an innovation.” 

The story is old and familiar, it dawns on Kravitz. It fits across his shoulders like an old sweater. It’s worn and well known, but by the looks across the faces of the crowd, it seems to be a welcome retelling. Even Barry, who claims to have no memory of the time of the Royal Birds, seems to find comfort in the beginning of this old tale. 

“Besides the two kings, there were five children. The oldest, a brilliant and driven studier of the arcane arts, unparalleled in the scope of his knowledge even at such a young age. He was the first they brought in. After him, a young brute yearning for battle with a heart of gold. His heart for justice and his loyalty towards those he loved struck the kings, and soon, he, too, was apart of this grand family. Then, soon after, the youngest, a writer who spun stories as effortlessly as she did spells came along, and the power of her words, even despite her shyness, won her too a seat in this home. The final two, however, were a pair. Twins! A girl and a boy, both as beautiful as they were powerful in their magic.” This is when the bard looks down to the lonely man for the first time since he began to spin his tale. His eyes squint slightly as he gets a good look at the lonely man. “Beautiful, quite like you, I might add.” 

The lonely man smiles brilliantly but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Kravitz stares at him and realizes, just as no doubt the bard has, that the resemblance the man has to- No. It’s too perfect. What are the odds? Kravitz’ mind reels, a plan beginning to take shape. 

“Well, your flattery is both appreciated and completely correct,” the man says. “Continue the story.” 

The bard obliges, but he rolls an insight check. The roll is high. “Well, the girl, Princess Lup, was a firebrand to say the least. She was always a bright burst of light in the city, a fast friend to Prince Magnus in their shared love of taking action. The boy, though, Prince Taako, was beloved by all that met him but it was said that he was always one to put up a front, a quick defense of humor to hide the bright heart that shone in him like all the Birds. A gem pretending to be sequins. Sound familiar, beautiful stranger?” 

The lonely man’s smile doesn’t falter but his eyes narrow. A few members of the crowd giggle. 

“Well, regardless, it was a tradition among the Royal Birds to throw a lavish ball for their newest members on the third anniversary of their official introduction of the family- but of course, Taako and Lup had been at home with them for much longer than that. However, on the night of what was supposed to be a grand and happy affair, a plot was brewing. The Royal Birds had always had enemies, yes, for they willfully spat in the face of much of tradition in the name of love and joy. They were strong, though, and in their home they were loved so they believed they had not much to fear. However, beneath all of their noses, one of their most trusted had gone against them. King Highchurch’s most trusted advisor, a man named Hunger, had arranged a plot to see the family destroyed. In the halls of the Bird’s castle, the ball was interrupted- and we all know the story,” and it’s with these words that the crowd feels the cold of the winter around them. “The kings were slain. Blood, a bind that the Birds had so outrightly rejected, ran through the halls. Only two survived- Prince Magnus and Princess Lup had escaped, fleeing to friends in Neverwinter. They were twelve and ten years old, and all that remains of their once great family.” 

The bard pauses, and the crowd’s frozen breath is all that fills the alleyway. They know this story. The lonely man’s smile is long gone from his face. He reaches down to the broken locket resting against his coat and clasps a hand over it. 

“However,” the bard begins again, catching the crowd and pulling surprise from them, even those that had spread the rumor themselves. “Princess Lup, even in her far off new home, believes that this isn’t true. She says that, even if her adopted fathers are dead and even if the children she had called her family were slain, she says that she can feel that Taako is still out there. Their bond- whether forged by blood, or by their powerful magic, or just by the love that they share by each other- has given her hope. She still believes that her twin is out there. She keeps his picture in half of a broken locket, smashed in the violent upheaval of the Royal Birds, around her neck even to this day. She offers a reward to whoever can bring her brother home to her in Neverwinter. Ruler Hunger says, now, that this cannot be true- that It’s simply a rumor that the expat Birds have begun to bring the long-forgotten past to pull down a future- but I think we all know that that’s not quite true,” the bard tells the crowd. “I think, though-” The bard turns to look down at his merchant friend, who is outright glaring at him. 

“Are you going to get off my counter now?” the merchant grumbles.

The bard’s act breaks for a moment. “Please? Please can I have the music box?” 

“What? No!” 

The bard falls to his knees in pleading. “Come on, please? Big finish! Pleaaase!” 

The merchant shakes her head regrettably, reaching under the table to pull out the fine, red box. “You owe me.” 

The bard elates, taking the box from him and widing it up as he turns back to the crowd. “I think, though, we all know that Prince Taako still lives. That even if the land the Kings built for the children they loved was torn from them, even if they lie deep underground, now, the Birds still fly.” 

And with that punctuation, the bard finishes winding the music box and opens it, revealing an picture of the painting that hung in the Royal Hall before it was burned to ash. It shows all of the Birds, smiling in the frame, and at the center, Taako is hugging Lup tight and the lonely man can hear her laughter in his ears. 

He gasps when the music twinkles through the crowd. He knows this song. It drags up a feeling in his gut, burning with familiarity. Something pulses in his chest- hot and loving- and he’s frantic because he’s missing something. 

Barry stares shocked down at the picture, seeing fleeting memories of something long shoved down, covered up by trauma both emotional and, well, blunt, cross his memories. He- He remembers the careful, long strokes of a brown hand pulling a brush masterfully across the page, and he- he grabs his head- 

Kravitz knows the notes like they were written on his soul- E, G, G, B, A, B, E- and tries to shove down the sentimental cry of ‘Maybe they are?’ that rings out in his mind. 

And just like that, without even knowing it, their fate was sealed. 

The story ends and the spell is broken. The crowd cheers and then disperses. The merchant shoves the bard off of the counter, catching the music box as it flies out of his hands. The bard grumbles but his friend just shakes her head at him, about done with his antics for the moment. 

The lonely man rushes forward. “Hey! Wait!” 

The bard turns back to the man and grins. “Oh, hello again.” 

“Is that story really true?” the man asks. He’s shocked by the sound of his own voice, how… Desperate it sounds. He recovers- “Just. Historically- er, wise, I mean.” 

“It is. Well, embellished a little, but-” 

“I need that music box.” 

The bard gapes at him and the merchant pulls the box tight to her chest. “Not a chance! I found it!” she calls to him. 

“Please?” the man asks again, growing frantic as he feels his head start to pound. “I don’t- Look I just-” He grabs the side of his head as his vision begins to swim. His heart in his chest is pounding. The heat that he felt warms and he suddenly feels like he’s burning. It’s a blaze, now, warring against the pounding in his head to stop just stop thinking about it STOP. “I’m- Sorry, darling, uh, what were we talking about?” 

“Are you all right?” the merchant asks, pushing the music box into the bard’s hands as she steps closer to the man. 

The man looks between the pair in front of him. “I’m- Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, I have no idea what we’re talking about so I’m just gonna-” 

And with that, the man turns and walks away. 

Kravitz rushes up to the pair as he sees the man leave. “How much for the music box?” 

“I already told the last guy, I’m not se-” 

“Ten platinum.” 

Kravitz and the merchant both look, shocked, at Barry. He pulls out a bag that he dumps into his hand. Sure enough, ten pieces of platinum tumble out into his open palm. 

“Where the fuck did you get that?!” Kravitz asks, shocked. 

Barry shrugs. “Good question? Uh-” 

“Don’t care, it’s a deal,” the merchant tells him, and the bard holds out the music box. 

Barry hands her the platinum and takes the box. Kravitz swears loudly before grabbing the hand without the box and dragging Barry down the side road and onto the main street after the lonely man. 

The bard and the merchant look on, absolutely flabbergasted. 

“Do I get a cut?” the bard asks.

“Yea, and it’s paid towards renting my stand as a stage.”


	2. Once Upon a December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a head's up, there's one kinda graphic part of this chapter in the second to last paragraph. it describes seeing dead loved ones, so if that's something that you need to skip, you should skip after "A memory flashes, quick as lightning, across Barry’s mind-" to "and just like that, it’s all gone." That part just describes Barry remembering the traumatic parts of the last ball.

“Kravitz!” Barry calls as he’s dragged down the street. “Krav! Stop, man! You have to tell me what we’re doing!”

Kravitz doesn’t slow his brisk pace or stop dragging Barry along, but he turns his head back to look at him as he goes. “We have to find that man!”

“Wh- Who? The man that wanted the music box before us?” he asks, jogging a bit to catch up to Kravitz until a man walking by gives him a withering look. He waves awkwardly before going back to walking. “Why? We got it?”

Kravitz glances over at him. “Not that I want to address that you had ten platinum just casually to throw around, but while you were pocketing a small fortune, I was thinking through the perfect plot.”

“Krav, I know you love cracking deals and schemes, but if you roll the dice again, you’re going to get us killed,” Barry tells him.

“I know, I know, but if we pull this off, then not only are we going to make it out of this city, we’re going to be set for life.”

“Why does it all need to be some huge scheme? Why can’t it just be a stable shop somewhere where we make enough to get by and it’s fine?” Barry asks tiredly.

“Says the necromancer.”

“The point stands!”

Krav shakes his head before he realizes he can’t see the lonely man anymore. He searches the crowd frantically, looking over the heads of the people around them, just barely spotting a glint of blonde hair turning down the end of the street. He takes off running, pulling Barry with him, to catch up. There- he’s walking only about thirty feet away. They slow down again, and Kravitz sighs in relief. He turns to look at Barry. “Look. I’ve told you before about the plan to get the reward for Taako, right?”

Barry looks practically miserable at that revelation. “Krav, no, please, not this again. The princess literally burns the fakes _alive_ , you heard that too, right? Whatever insider info you have, you can’t trick her. Plus- they’re twins! You can’t fake that! You’d have to find someone that looks _just like her_ , what are the odds of that?”

“I have been asking that all day, but something’s turning luck in our favor. Look at him,” Kravitz says, pointing towards the man they’re following.

He turns down the street ahead, and they can see his face- a dusting of dark freckles across light brown skin, golden eyes shining beneath the wide-brimmed hat he’s pulled low. Barry opens the music box in his hands, looking down at the picture in the box. The resemblance is simply uncanny. “Holy shit.”

“I know,” Kravitz says, looking over at the box before pulling Barry around the corner that the man just turned down. Barry almost drops the box before grabbing it again and closing it, putting it into his bag. “This might be the perfect chance, Barry. And you heard his conversation with the merchant, right?”

“What? No, why would I listen in on that?”

“Well, he was clearly interested in the music box, too. He is interested in the story, he doesn’t know a lot, which means we can coach him on the information. He doesn’t really seem like he knows what’s going on in general, either, so it might be easy to convince him to go along even if he isn’t outright on board,” Kravitz explains.

Barry stops mid-stride. “Woah, Krav.”

“What?” Kravitz asks, not taking his eyes off of the man walking away from them.

“That’s a little fucked up, bud.”

“What?”

“You mean, besides convincing a man with a weak grasp on reality that he’s the brother of a grieving woman who lost her entire family for monetary gain?”

Kravitz meets his eyes. “I know. I know, but we need to get out of here, and this is a sure shot.”

“Do we really need to get out of here that bad?” Barry questions, but his face says he already knows the answer.

“You know there’s no cleric in this entire city that can help with your memory, and not to mention the shady parties we’ve pissed off. Neverwinter? Neverwinter could be the key to figuring out your past and the key to freedom from mine,” Kravitz tells him. “And that money could what makes it all possible.”

Barry studies his face. After a long face, he sighs. “Fine, fine. But we’ll- We’ll be careful?”

Kravitz nods. “Yea! Obviously.”

Barry sets out after the man again, who, thankfully, was just turning down another corner. Kravitz shakes the growing nerves and sets out too, thanking the Raven Queen that he hadn’t gotten too far yet. After a short walk, he turns into a street that Kravitz knows well. The abandoned shell of the former palace, now burnt out, looms above their heads as the man slides easily through the broken gate and into the castle grounds proper.

From around the corner of an empty building, Kravitz sighs deeply. “Awfully poetic.”

The lonely man’s ears twitch a little at the noise- he turns to look around, scanning the abandon ruins of what was once the main street of the city, but he sees nothing but rubble and ash. He sighs to himself and pushes forward.

Carefully, he works his way to the backside of the castle proper, pushing in a loose brick by the entrance. A door just to the left of it slides open- _a kind hand tracing over the block, I don’t think we’ll need it but just in case- Stop it._ He enters, kicking the false-wall closed as he does so and strolling forward while casting forward and small ball of white light. It reflects off of the simple walls, casting light into the shadows. It’s comforting. It feels familiar, even if they’ve only been staying here for a couple days at most.

He reaches the end of the corridor. He spots the singed tapestry that covers this secret entrance and pushes it aside, revealing the grand halls of the Castle of Birds and, more importantly, a door with an ornate name carved into it- Lucretia.

He picked that room out for them. He thought the similarity to her own name would make Lucy laugh. He knocks on the door in the same pattern he always does, and after a long moment, she opens the door.

“Ko! You’re back already?” Lucy calls as she opens the door.  

He remembers when she was much shorter, back at the very beginning of his memories, when the pair had turned up at an orphanage at the same time. She’s almost as tall as him, now, but that doesn’t stop him from ruffling her hair. “Yeah, duh. No, actually, I cast a duplicate down here just to mess with you.”

She rolls her eyes at him and says in a deadpan, “Ha-ha. Very funny. Why are you back so soon?”

“Uh-” he starts, combing over what happened again in his memory. He thinks about lying, saying that it had gotten too cold to be out already, but he thinks better of it. “It’s, uh- yknow, the thing.”

It’s all he says. Lucy’s face dawns recognition immediately. “Come, sit down, I’ll grab the components.”

Ko obliges, trying to swallow the shame rising in his throat as he enters the room that they’ve made their home. It’s cute in there, cozy for a room that once belonged to a princess. The bed, complete with its own canopy covering it, is pushed back into the far corner. Pictures, paintings, and drawings covered the walls when they first entered, but Lucy had quickly pulled them all down and shoved them in a drawer the second she could. Didn’t want dead eyes watching her, she’d remarked, and yeah, that was fair. Shelves and shelves of books covered the walls, all unharmed and unlooted.

“I still can’t believe we’re the only people who’ve been in here,” Ko remarks, gesturing to the room. “How’d that even happen?”

Lucy looks up from the box of spell components shoved under the bed. “What? I already told you, it was locked up. I broke the spell.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Ko answers. “You’re such a brilliant wizard, Lulu, it’s hard to believe sometimes.”

Lucy stiffens at the nickname. It’s brief, just a moment, but Ko sees it happens and his jaw tightens. “What did I say?”

“Nothing,” Lucy says with a shake of her head and eyes carefully cast downward. She pulls a few supplies that she needs out of the box before walking over to Ko and pulling on his wrist, guiding him to sit on the bed. “You didn’t tell me it was getting bad again.”

“It wasn’t,” Ko says distantly. “Y’know ol’ Taako, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Lucretia doesn’t answer, but her actions answer for her- her hands move a little more frantically, quickly whispering words Ko can’t really hear because his head is starting to spin a bit. His chest is getting hot again, so much so that he can feel it spreading to his shoulders. Lucretia’s mouth is still moving, still saying something, but it’s distant and he can’t hear it. He feels a little distant, a little lost, a little out of place. He feels like his body is shifted just to the left of where the rest of him is, but the distance between them is growing and growing. He’s sliding away, to somewhere else, and that’s when he hears her.

“Taako? Taako?! Is that you?” a voice, one that he can’t place but _knows_ , he’s sure of it, calls to him.

Him? Is he- That name… It sounds right but who-

“Please, Taako. I miss you. I miss you so much, just- I love you. Come back to me.”

There’s a flash of light and Ko’s back in his body, back to himself. He blinks at Lucy, and for a moment, a different name for her is on the tip of his tongue, but just as quickly as it all came on, it flees him. “Oh, fuck,” he whispers.

Lucy looks up at him from the remains of the used components. “That bad?”

Ko nods, pressing a hand to his chest to make sure it isn’t on fire. The outside of his jacket is freezing to the touch, but sliding a hand underneath feels skin warmer than it should be. Not dangerously so, but… “I didn’t think it was going to be,” he says, looking away from her. “Sorry about that.”

Lucy’s nose scrunches up a little bit. “Stop apologizing for it,” she tells him. “We are family. You know that. You know I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

The emotional honesty of it causes Ko’s face to flush and he laughs a little bit to ease the fight or flight response that that still, even after knowing her for so long, calls to the surface. “Yeah, of course, Lucy. I know.”

“This one should last for a week at least,” she says, sliding the box back under the bed. “And we’ve got enough components to do it as often as you need after that. Are you okay, though? What set that off?”

Ko shrugs. “I dunno. I was fine all day, but then I was listening to this story, and I felt the dregs of the last spell kick up and… Yeah.”

“What story?” Lucy asks, half-listening as she cleans up the loose papers that were knocked away by the flash of the spell. “Anything interesting?”

“I mean, maybe. I think I accidentally wooed him with my dashing looks, kept comparing me to a prince,” he says, laughing idley.

“Oh,” Lucy gasps, a little quieter than her usual voice. “Oh, what was the story about?”

He just shakes his head, picking at dirt trapped under his nails. “Something about whoever used to live here?”

She whips around to stare at him. “The- The Royal Birds?”

Ko nods, even as his brain registers a little static when he tries to process her surprise. “Yeah? Why?”

Lucy’s mouth falls open in the same second that a crash rings out from just outside the door. Both her eyes and Ko’s snap to the door. They don’t say anything for a long moment. Then, slowly, Ko stands to his feet and prepares an attack. He puts a finger to his lips in Lucy’s direction. The younger woman is already holding her focus, a staff they’d found in the room, forward, ready for whatever’s outside the room. Then, in one quick movement, Ko throws the door open.

In the hallway in front of them, Kravitz and Barry are splayed out, tangled in the burnt tapestry once covering up the secret entrance.

“What the fuck are you doing _here_?!” Taako shouts at them, brandishing three magic missiles waiting to strike their target.

“We could totally ask you the same!” Barry shouts back at him.

“Actually!” Kravitz says as he tries to right himself on the floor. “We were hoping to offer an opportunity for you!”

“Who the fuck are you?” Lucy says in a completely flat voice, poking her head out beneath Ko’s outstretched arm.

She and Barry meet eyes and her jaw drops. Kravitz’ eyes scan over Lucy and then glance back over Barry. He picks up Barry’s bag from where it fell and pulls the music box out of it. He cracks it open and stares at the photo again. HIs eyes dart between Ko, Lucy, and his own prone friend and suddenly his plan seems a _lot_ more plausible.

“Oh this,” Kravitz says as he stares at the three in front of him. “This is perfect.”

Barry stares back at Kravitz. “I do not like the look on your face and I actually know you.”

Kravitz just grins at him before he turns it towards Lucy and Ko. “Your Majesties, it is a pleasure to meet you and to finally reunite you to your brother.”

Fight or flight responses respond mostly to a certain kind of scared reaction, usually in the face of a predator. For example, in this case, the situation is more complicated than simple predator-prey biology. It’s something a little more human, a little more respective to personality. So, from each of the other three, we get a unique reaction that tells us much more than that base choice.

Lucy pushes herself in front of Ko and glares at Kravitz. “And who are you?”

Barry stares at Kravitz, a long, searching glance, turns it towards the pair they’d tracked to the castle, and then back to Kravitz. If he wasn’t trying to keep from blowing his cover, he’d yell “What the fuck?”

Ko laughs. “Shit, my man. You got us. We are the Royals.”

Lucy stares at him before turning a sour grin to the intruders. “Give us a moment.”

Before Kravitz can say “of course, your highness,” the door is slammed in their faces.

Barry and Lucy, on either side of the door, ask their partner, “What the actual fuck are you doing?”

Kravitz puts a finger to his lips to hush him. “Are you aware you have the similar face _and_ a name to royalty?”

Barry is taken aback. “What.”

Kravitz shows him the picture in the music box again. He points a finger to the figure standing just above the twins, laughing easily and sticking his tongue out as two identical hands make bunny ears behind his head. He has a horrible mullet, something Barry is glad he doesn’t have, but he is similarly chubby to how Barry is and the dead royal’s hair and eyes and skin all- Oh no.

“Oh no,” Barry says, facing him with a terrified glance. “You’re not going to try to pass me off as a royal. You’re not.”

Kravitz smiles wider and shrugs guiltily.

“Goddammit.”

On the other side of the door, Ko puts his hands in front of him to placate his younger sister. “Look, Lucy, hear me out-”

“Why would it _ever_ be a good idea to entertain the insanity of two random strangers that come to our door claiming us to be royalty!?” she asks, practically pulling her white hair out of her skull where she tugs at it.

Ko sighs, frustrated, sliding his fingers through his own hair. “No, look-” he tries again, turning her to face him and stop pacing the room out of stress. “Look! People here love that old royal family, right?”

“They were murdered, Ko!” she tells him, frantic. “They were killed. All except-”

“I know, I know, all except the one twin and the buff one in Neverwinter,” Ko finishes.

The look on Lucy’s face succinctly tells him that that wasn’t how she was going to finish that sentence. “What?!” she cries.

“The- The twin missing her brother? She put up a reward in Neverwinter because she’s convinced he’s alive. What, you haven’t heard that?”

Lucy pales. “No. I- And- And Magnus?” she asks, voice wavering. “And now, Barry, too…”

He puts a hand on her shoulder and asks her, slowly, “Lucy, are you okay?”

She stares up at him seeing him truly for the first time since he’d mentioned the twin. “Ko, why are you crying?”

Ko blinks at her before slowly raising a hand to his face to wipe tears he didn’t know were falling. He recovers, saying, “Oh, just because you’re going to miss out on the _grift of the century_ .” He wipes the tear and flings it off of his finger dramatically. “They think we’re _royalty_! If we can pull this off, we won’t just be squatting in a castle, we’d own our own!”

“Come on, Barry, just think about it. Three of you- all with more than a passing resemblance to people they haven’t seen in _ten years_ , coming to Neverwinter to reunite? With the music box and the last remaining image of the royal portrait? This is foolproof!” Kravitz tells him, the deal turning over in his mind as he breaks down his logic.

“Krav- We don’t even know these people,” Barry reasons. “What if they’re dangerous?”

Kravitz weighs the odds again but he knows he’s right in this. “How dangerous could they be! They’re squatting in an empty castle, at the worst they are a couple of confused orphans.”

“Lucy, clearly I bare some sort of resemblance to this chick. These guys think so! That bard thought so! Maybe- Maybe we can play this right and get out of here!” Ko tells her. “If I can pretend to be her twin long enough to secure the bag and get the fuck outta this town, then we’ll be set for life!”

“That man could be trying to pass us off as the Royal Birds so they could murder us and be lauded as heroes, Ko!” Lucy tells him in a frantic whisper. “He’s clearly already got Barry looped in, he could be dangerous?!”

Ko looks at Lucy strangely. “What are you talking about?”

“What do I do if they ask me about who I am or what our life was like before?” Barry asks.

“Oh, easy,” Kravitz says. “Just tell them the truth! Your timeline’s convenient, and it’s not like they’re actually _them._ It’s easy enough.”

“There’s just so much you don’t know,” Lucy says, but he’s certain she’s not really saying it for his ears anymore. “You can’t understand the full weight of what we’re up against here, and it’s not like they’re really alive?”

Ko tries to listen and keep up with what she’s saying, he really does, but the harder he tries to the more static fills his brain. He pretends like he does, if only for Lucy’s sake. She’s turned to him, now, like she’s searching for a lifeline. “Think about it: Worst case scenario, we cut and run after kicking their asses like the incredible magical people we are. Easy. Or, best case scenario, we’re royalty!”

Lucy squares him with a hard expression that he’s not even going to _try_ and decode and she slowly opens the door. Barry’s facial expression looks as hesitant as hers does, but-

“Barry? Can we talk for a while?” Lucy asks.

Both Ko and Kravitz look at her, shocked. Barry himself pales as well, but he swallows and nods. “I mean, sure? Why not?”

Lucy reaches out an arm to him. Her face is set and grim. Barry takes it, and she leads him down the abandoned hallway.

Kravitz leans forward to crane his neck to watch Barry disappear as they turn around a corner. He turns back to look over Ko. “Should I be worried about that?” Kravitz asks him.

Ko shrugs. “Nah, I mean, after all, we’re family. What’s there to worry about?”

He nods for the sake of playing along. “Still, though. Barry’s memory of his past is… tenuous. We haven’t been apart in years.”

“Hey, no big,” Ko says, leveling him a dazzling grin. “We’ll follow them.”

Kravitz offers him his arm and a smile of his own. “Shall we, then, your majesty?”

He links arms with him, and oh, he could absolutely get used to this. “We shall.”

The two set off in the direction that Lucy and Barry had taken moments before, barely catching snippets of their conversation as Lucy leads him on ahead.

“Who is that man you’re with, Barry?” she asks him carefully.

“Who, Kravitz?” Barry asks, fighting to keep the nerves out of his voice. For a girl barely of age, she had an air about her that could make anyone bow. “He’s an old friend of mine. We’ve been partners for a while now.”

“How did you meet him?” she asks.

It feels a little bit like an interrogation, but he answers anyway. “I drowned in a river. At least- Well, I almost did. I don’t remember it, but Krav thinks I slipped on ice and hit my head and that’s how I ended up in the river. Anyway, he pulled me out and ever since we’ve been partners. I owe him a lot, he’s a good guy.”

Her eyes narrow. “How much do you not remember?”

Barry rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “Better question is probably what do I remember? My memory only goes back about four years, from when Krav pulled me out of the river. That’s all I got.”

“That’s it?” she cries, turning to face him. “Only four years ago? So you don’t know this place, or Ko, or me?”

“Er, no?” Barry answers simply.

Lucy squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep, centering breath. She takes another one when it doesn’t work, a third when tears try to squeeze out anyways.

Barry doesn’t know what to do when he sees the tears roll down her face. He thinks it's vulnerable, like something he shouldn’t be seeing, but for some reason, he thinks he remembers seeing something like it before.  “I’m sorry, Lucretia, I really don’t, I wish-”

Lucretia opens her eyes and her eyes are shining when they lock onto his. “I didn’t tell you my name.”

His eyes widen as he traces over what he just said again. “Do I- Did- Do I know you?”

She nods over and over again. “Maybe. Just- Maybe.”

Before he can even consider the implications of that, she starts walking him down the hallway again, opening into the grand ballroom.

It’s not so grand anymore. The large painting that once hung at the top of the grand staircase is now no more than an empty frame, burnt away. The floor is singed and scuffed, and a few of the stained glass windows are shattered, covering the floor in a rainbow of glass and even a light dusting of snow. It’s freezing in there, Barry thinks, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t feel it.

“Do you remember being here?” Lucretia asks him. “Do you remember Lup and Taako’s ball?”

And suddenly, he can see it- the ballroom, drenched in light. At the top of the stairs, Davenport and Merle are arm and arm and greeting guests as they enter. Merle cracks a joke, and it’s terrible. Barry can feel himself groaning instinctually, but even still, Davenport smiles and laughs fondly as he shakes his head. Barry can see himself, much younger, in a million different fractals of a larger life with those two- wiping out while running and needing Merle to close up the scrapes on his legs, waging prank wars with Davenport under the illusion of learning illusory magic, going to them for everything from a slight annoyance to a world-shattering problem to just plain wanting to talk to them- and for the first time in his remembered life, his chest aches with loss he can’t begin to comprehend.

Below them, at the bottom of the stairs, he sees five children. He knows them instinctually- the two in the middle, Lup and Taako, laughing and teasing each other after the other returns from dancing with a different royal. Next to them, Magnus laughs along, nudging-

Barry breaks from his revery to look over at the woman next to him. It’s unmistakable that it’s the same woman that he sees, a decade younger, in the fleeting memory across the hall. The same light hair curling around her head, contrasting against her beautiful dark skin. He could’ve picked her out of a crowd of thousands. He could have picked any of them out of a crowd of thousands- What happened to him?

“Barry?” Lucretia calls to him.

“You hated the balls,” he tells her. “You didn’t like dancing with strangers.”

She laughs sadly. “Neither did you.”

“We used to hide on the balcony and trade books, and Dav would always tell us to come in before we froze,” Barry recalls, laughing.

“Gods, he was such a mom,” Lucretia says, staring off towards the top of the stairs, just where Barry had imagined he stood. “Do you remember the lullaby he used to sing?”

Barry stares at the two men standing in his memory, and he can hear Davenport’s voice in his ears. He sings along, “Far away, long ago, glowing dim as an ember…”

Lucretia smiles as she tears up. “Things my heart used to know, things it yearns to remember…”

Three voices chime in harmony- “And a song, someone sings…”

Lucretia and Barry turn quickly when they hear it, spotting Taako in the doorway, hooked arm in arm with Kravitz. He, too, is staring up at the top of the stairs and his voice carries in the ruins of their once great home, singing, “Once upon a December.”

The shock of it reminds Barry where he is, and he finally feels the cold start to creep under his jacket. It’s no matter, though, because a moment later, Lucretia collapses into his chest and holds him tight. “I thought you were dead.”

A memory flashes, quick as lightning, across Barry’s mind- running, pursued by a man steeped in black, the burning portrait, the two people who had ever really been like fathers to him with blank eyes staring at nothing as red seeps across the ground, and when he glances across the ballroom again, he can see himself, tiny and terrified, gripping his head and sobbing- and just like that, it’s all gone. He looks, panicked and confused, to Kravitz.

He doesn’t know who this woman is, but he was so certain he did a moment ago, and that dichotomy shakes him to his core.


	3. Together in Neverwinter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter alone is double the size of the rest of the fic, which is Definitely the reason it took this long to put out. also- ok... soo... should i have realized when i killed merle and dav last chapter (and TRUST ME davenchurch stans, the dads will not die in vein and we're gonna have some actual davenchurch in here i promise) that this fic was darker than i thought it was going to be? 
> 
> yea
> 
> did i still think, somehow, in my dumbass mind that this was basically just fluffy slow burn until i wrote the end of this chapter? 
> 
> uh yea
> 
> so, as i first said when i originally posted this fic: oops. tw for death in this chapter (it's really vague and not graphic, but just in case! its at the very end- you're safe until "But. We can only do that if we are all on the same page." and then you can jump back in at "Kravitz reminds himself..."

Ko scans over the scene in front of him- the crumbling ballroom, Lucy, sobbing into a stranger’s chest, the figures he could’ve sworn he saw standing at the top of the stairs- and tries to plot a course through it that makes any goddamn sense at all while his mind swirls in static around him. Order of operations: Lucy first

“Lucy?” he asks, going over to her and the guy she’d called Barry and putting a hand on her back. He doesn’t love being casually affectionate, especially in front of strangers, but she’s important to him. She’s family, and that comes first. “You okay?

She turns towards him, tears already gone by the time she faces him. “Yeah, of course, Ko. Just… Reminiscing on our glory days,” she answers, eyeing Kravitz cautiously

Ko’s eyes slide towards Kravitz just slightly and then to Barry. Lucy takes his hand and squeezes it just once. Alright, yeah. He can run with this. He puts an arm around her shoulder and a hand over his face, sighing long and sad. “I feel you, little sis…” he says, sighing dramatically. “It’s a shame to see this place in this state. Am I right, brother?

Barry looks down right lost. He takes about a full minute to realize that Ko is staring at him, and when he does, he abruptly says, “Uh, yeah. A real shame.

Kravitz looks over his “royal family”. They had a lot of work ahead of them. “So, erm, quick headcount, do any of you actually remember your time as royalty?”

Lucy honestly isn't listening. She turns on her heel and strolls away and across the ballroom, towards the stairs on the other side. She wipes her tears as she goes, hoping not to embarass herself any further. 

Kravitz huffs. “Alright, so the young princess has made up her mind already, alright. Prince Taako, Prince Barry?”

Barry glances over at Lucy’s retreating form and then to Ko, who was kicking some of the rubble next to him. “Um, not really.”

Ko doesn’t answer.

“Prince Taako?” Kravitz asks again.

He doesn’t even look up. Barry elbows him. “I think he’s talking to you.”

Ko blinks and looks up at him. “Huh? Oh, yea, my man, I remember everything. Every detail, of course.”

“Who are we going to meet in Neverwinter?” Kravitz asks, eyes narrowing.

“Uh…” Ko trails off. He blinks after a long moment. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

Kravitz presses his palm into his face. So, the odds weren’t that good. That’s fine. He’d figure it out. “Alright, we’ll work on it. What we really need right now is a plan to get out of here and get to Neverwinter. We’ve got the forger’s favor still, right, Barry?”

Barry considers it. “Yeah, that could work. We could have the exit paper by nightfall, no problem.”

“So we’re fleeing Tosun,” Lucy says from across the room, tracing a finger across the burnt frame. “And going to, what, Neverwinter?”

“That’s correct, your Majesty,” Kravitz answers.

She whirls to look at him then- the skirt of her jacket kicking up and swirling with her, a lock of curly white hair escaping from her tightly tied bun. “For what, exactly?” she says. Her voice isn’t overly loud, but the emotion in it is unmistakable. “Why there?”

“Why, haven’t you heard?” Kravitz says, crossing the ballroom towards her. “Princess Lup and Prince Magnus live. Princess Lup says she’s certain that her brother, Prince Taako, your-”

“Alright, can I be real with you for just- Just one moment? If you don’t cut the royal and “your grace” shit, I think I might lose my entire fucking mind,” Lucy replies evenly.

Kravitz’ eyebrows fly to his forehead. Ko just snickers- he loves when the little nerd catches people off guard like that. There’s nothing funnier than a voice gripping with gravitas begging you to eat her entire ass.

“Alright,” Kravitz says. “Pri- Lup has a reward out for anyone that can return her brother to her in Neverwinter.”

“Now that makes a lot of sense,” Lucy remarks. “How much?”

“Just, you know, a token of her-”

“I’d like to remind you your whole plan revolves around Barry, Ko and I agreeing to work with you, so it’d be nice if you could be straight with me here.”

Barry shifts back over to stand next to Kravitz. “I’m already with him?”

Lucy gives him a look wrought with tiredness beyond her years. “Ko and I. Ko and I agreeing to work with you.”

Kravitz looks over at his compatriot, who just shrugs. “A couple hundred-thousand platinum.”

Ko practically jumps for joy and it is like dollar signs are etched in his eyes. “I’m sold!”

“Ko, wait. How do we know that it’s really Lup and Magnus?” Lucy asks. “How do we know this deal is legitimate and not just a plot to kill off the surviving family?”

Kravitz laughs. “You’re royalty, they’re royalty. It’s not an elaborate murder plot.”

Lucy laughs too, but hers rings out bitter and cold until Kravitz’ tapers off awkwardly. “You really don’t know much about the world, do you?”

He huffs, crossing his arms and looking away. “Look, I know we just met, but I promise I understand the world far more than you ever have. The world- the people miss the Birds. They want them back. Any rumor about them is wishing for their safety, and those in charge don't really do much about it besides asserting that all the Birds are dead. You’re not in any danger by playing princess.”

“Oh?” Lucy says. She walks back down the stairs, pointing back at the empty frame as she does so. She says, “Do you know what used to hang in that frame, Mr. Kravitz?” punctuating the name with as much mallace as possible.

He shakes his head, huffing. “The royal portrait. Everyone knows that.”

“Do you know that a little girl painted it?” Lucy asks, slowly walking across the hall towards him. “That she practiced painting and drawing for years in secret because she always thought what she created was worthless, until she met Merle and Davenport? Did you know that the first time Davenport ever saw something she’d made, he’d told her that she had something special in her and that she’d built it all herself?”

The ballroom is deadly silent except for the slow steps echoing across the empty and the rubble.

“Did you know that Merle took care of her wrist every time she spent too long working, easing the pain and tucking her into bed? Did you know that the first time she sketched out that painting, the sketches kept coming out shaky because Magnus kept making her laugh, because Barry had fallen asleep while modelling for reference, because Lup and Taako had drawn all over his face with her liners while he was asleep? Because Merle didn’t stop them but helped? Because when he woke up to his entire family’s laughter, Davenport helped him wage a prank war in revenge?”

She stops just five feet away from Kravitz. Tears sneak out from her eyes but she doesn’t wipe them away. They drip off her chin and soak into the dark stain in the floor below her.

“When she finally finished the painting, did you know she cried because her family couldn’t stop telling them how proud they were of her? How they hung it right that second, where everyone could see, and threw a ball just to show it off? Do you know what that meant to her, to be celebrated and loved so openly?”

She sniffs and looks down. She wipes her tears and sets her jaw. Finally, she looks back up at Kravitz, who is staring at her with shock and wonder. After a long moment, she says, so quietly Barry and Ko can barely hear it from where they’re standing, “Do you know what it’s like to have all of that and then-” She takes a breath. “And then watch the men who gave it to you die while all you can do is run?”

The ballroom stands silent except for the sound of their breathing, empty but for the clouds of their breath in the freezing winter air and their chests, rising and falling. Lucretia stares down and she knows exactly what the floor is stained dark from. She steps back in horror and she squeezes her mouth shut tight, begging herself to keep it together. She looks up- Barry and Taako are watching her, she knows it, and all she wants to do is ask them how they managed to be spared from the burden this has left in her soul, but she already knows that answer.

Ko cheers, “That was perfect, Lucy! We’re gonna nail this!”

Lucy laughs, wiping at her eyes again before walking carefully and quickly away from the stain in the center of the room. She wraps her arms around him and hugs him tight. “Thanks, Ko.”

He’s a little caught off guard at the sudden affection, but he shrugs and pats her head. “Any time, Lucy. So, what’s the plan?”

Kravitz takes a long moment to pull himself out of reeling from… whatever the fuck that was. He looks over at Barry for help, but he looks just as kinda terrified and as lost as he is. “Alright, well… We’ll need to go back out into the city. We need to get exit papers, and- Any chance either of you have IDs?”

“Well, royals have no need for identification, so,” Ko tells him.

Kravitz sighs. “Alright, that’s fine, we can get that done at the same time, but that means you two are going to have to come with.”

“Fine by me,” Ko says with a shrug.

Lucy nods without looking at either of them.

“We should get going, then,” Barry says. “It’s already about 3, so we need to hurry if we want to be on a train before dark.”

“Come on, I know a shortcut out of here,” Kravitz tells them, gesturing towards the staircase Lucy had just walked down. “There’s a servant’s entrance in one of the bedrooms up this way.”

They follow after him, but Ko asks him, “How do you know about secret shortcuts through a castle?”

Kravitz shrugs. “Past life, I worked here.”

That peaks Barry’s attention. “What! You me you worked for the Birds, not that you worked in the castle!” he says, nudging his friend.

“It never came up!” Kravitz says lightly, nudging him back.

“It never came up to tell the prince you’re helping that you used to work for him?” Lucy says, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

Kravitz turns back to her, face bored, with the response, “Yup.”

She scoffs.

They go up the stairs to another hallway, revealing more doors carved with names into them. Ko cranes his neck, spotting the names “Magnus” and “Barry” further down the hallway. “How come Lucretia was all alone down the other way?”

“Her choice,” Lucy and Kravitz say in unison.

She stares at Kravitz as he continues, “Apparently she thought that her family was always too loud and stayed up too late.”

“She liked being close to the garden,” Lucy says, a distant look on her face. “She was always up the latest, anyway.”

“Uh, okay,” Kravitz says, giving her a strange look. “Come on, it’s in here.”

He turns into the closest room, leaving the door open behind him and gesturing for the others to follow. Ko stands behind for a moment, looking at the name on the door. Two were carved into the wood- Taako and Lup. Though, beneath it, there were other things drawn on the wood. Little messages, one after another: “ur name might come first but i was still born first ;)” written in red ink in curly, swooping letters. Just beneath it in pink, “bet Lulu im on top for a reason <3” followed by choppy green handwriting “stop writing on the door you punks” and “you literally wrote on the door to tell us not to lmao” written in the looping pink. Ko’s hand reaches up to trace over them, following the curls of “Lulu” across the wood. His chest warms a bit at the sight, but as quickly as it comes, he hears a bit of static in his ears, drops his hand away from the door and walks inside.

Ko isn’t sure what he thought a twins’ bedroom would look like- he doesn’t think he ever considered it before. If he had, though? Maybe it would’ve been something like this- A closet overflowing with clothes with no clear separation between what was whose, a vanity overflowing with makeup, a cork board covered with recipes both torn from books and handwritten, two twin beds pushed next to each other just behind a desk in the very corner of the room, the desk in front of it strewn with books about various arcana. It feels like it all comes together to tell a story of two people, in a way that almost feels familiar. t’s bittersweet, knowing that they were torn apart now.

Ko looks around the room sadly, his eyes finally settling on a hook just inside the closet. He walks over to it, prodding open the door, revealing two objects. The first, a wide brimmed hat that tapers off into a point, and the second, a bright red umbrella. He stares at it for a long moment, feeling the heat in his chest and the static war against each other, until finally it subsided.

The hat itself is so over-the-top and obnoxious. It’s so clearly crafted to be as tacky as possible, and whoever had made it had succeeded in creating a gaudy nightmare. With a huge grin, he tugged it onto his head. It’s perfect.

He almost leaves the umbrella behind, thinking that it’s not really “him”, he finds himself hesitating. It feels wrong, leaving it alone in there.

“Ko?” Lucy calls, poking her head out from behind the beds. “You coming? There’s a door back here.”

Barry pokes his head up after her. “Are you looting?”

Ko shrugs, swinging the umbrella and resting it on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s my room, isn’t it? I mean, I am Taako.”

“What’s the hold up?” Kravitz asks, looking back up. “Oh. Suits you.”

Ko gives him a big grin, tilting the hat back. “Thank you, I know.”

He slides over the bed and follows after the other three through the tiny door just past the twins’ beds. It opens into a hallway not dissimilar to the entrance that he and Lucy had been using to get in and out of the castle, just a bare, concrete tunnel. “Man, how many secret exits does this place have?” he remarks, dragging the tip of the umbrella along the wall as he walks.

Kravitz shrugs. “No clue, but they’re everywhere.”

“Davenport liked them,” Lucy remarks.

“Alright, who actually are you?” Kravitz asks, more than a little miffed. “How do you know so much about the Royal Birds?”

“I told you,” Lucy tells him, turning to walk backwards so she can glare at him properly. She says, he voice dripping with sarcasm, “I’m the Royal Princess Lucretia.”

“Okay, we need to- We need to come to some sort of understanding here,” Kravitz announces. “I’ll admit you both are much smarter than we initially gave you credit for-”

“Oh what’s that?” Ko says, putting an arm on Lucy’s shoulder and looking completely shocked. “We’re not just hopeless, foolish orphans? You mean that we’re actually totally competent magic users that could uh hand you your ass at any minute? What do you mean, were you try to fool us? To help you procure the reward money by using us as fakes of the dead royals without giving us any of the profit? No way!”

Kravitz facepalms. “Alright, okay, I’ll admit, I did not nail the intro on this one, did I?”

“Hey, to be completely honest?” Ko replies dropping the act. “If you’d opened with ‘wanna pretend to be a prince to get crazy rich?’ I’d have hit you with a quick response of a ‘hell yea, let’s do this!’ so, that’s really just your loss for beating around the bush.”

“So we’re all on the same page now? You guys aren’t royalty?” Kravitz asks.

“Oh, nah, I’m still grand as hell,” Ko tells him.

“Sure,” Lucy says in a voice that sounds like she means the exact opposite.

“Honestly, my best guess on that varies moment to moment,” Barry admits.

Kravitz frowns. “Awesome. That clears exactly nothing up.”

“As long as you get us to Neverwinter and we don’t get straight up murdered along the way, it doesn’t really matter,” Lucy announces with a sense of finality.

Lucy and Ko end up walking a bit ahead of the two con-men, and the second they’re about twenty feet ahead, Ko casts cone of silence, just behind him in the gap between the two of them and the two strangers. “Can you hear me?”

She nods.

“Perfect, so what’s the verdict on these clowns?” Ko asks. “Because honestly, I cannot get a read on what you’re thinking right now at all.”

Lucy peaks over her shoulder, watching Barry and Kravitz as they walk behind. “Trust Barry. As far as Kravitz is concerned, he’s more of a means to an end. If they can get us to Neverwinter and we can keep a low profile without him blowing up the whole ‘royals’ thing, we’ll be fine.”

“What?” Ko asks, trying to get a good read on Barry in a glance. As far as he can tell, he’s just really lost and confused more than anything. “I’m not gonna lie, that Barry guy kinda seems like a walking disaster.”

Lucy tilts her head to the side and then nods just a little bit. “You’re not- You’re not wrong. Ko, do you trust me?”

“What?” Ko questions. “Yeah, duh. You knew that.”

She wrings her hands for a long moment, not really sure how to follow that up. It’s a careful ground to trend- clearly she knows more than he does. Clearly he’s not stupid- he knows that something’s up with her. They both know that the vague not-addressing it isn’t going to stand. Still. “Where we’re going- Neverwinter- if Kravitz isn’t full of shit, then we are going to find two people that are so, so important to us.”

Ko’s eyebrows knit together. “What? Wait- Do you have people in Neverwinter? I mean, I don’t know what you mean with “us” since I’ve got, uh, nilch on the whole people-important-to-me-besides-you radar, but if you have people there, why are we only going there now? We should’ve gotten the fuck outta dodge of this crazy place a while ago.”

She opens and closes her mouth. “So- First off, I didn’t- I didn’t know that they were in Neverwinter until- Until very recently, but Ko, there’s someone who has been waiting for you there for a long time. Someone that has a bond with you so strong that it’s survived everything, including death.”

“Uh, no, there isn’t.”

“You said you trust me.”

“Wh- Well, yeah, and don’t get me wrong, I do,” he tells her, carefully looking away from her gaze. “But who’d be waiting for me? Some- Some parents that abandoned me decades ago? A family I don’t remember and forgot about me forever ago? It’s just- Whoever they are, my family, I mean, seriously, Luc, I don’t even give a shit about where they are, and they definitely don’t give a shit where I am.”

“Then why do you still wear that locket?” she asks, and immediately regrets the mention of the sensitive subject.

His hand flies to his chest before he can think of a retort. He catches himself, staring down at his hand and the broken locket in it. He opens his palm, staring at it. That face, that face that looks haunting like his own and yet he’s entirely certain it’s someone else. He flips it over and reads the engraving for the hundredth time, finger tracing over the shitty, hand-carved writing- “Outcasts but,” he reads. The lone hint to his past. He’s angry in a blinding flash. “Honestly, what the fuck does that even mean? It’s- It’s just gibberish! Outcasts but! But what? Why- Why is that my only clue? Why can’t it be like, meet me in- Meet me in Neverwinter, since someone’s totally waiting for me there!”

His hand clenches around the locket, shaking as much as his voice.

“Why not even fucking ‘Here’s your actual name so you don’t have to go by some stupid two letters that sounds like a fucking 10 year old made it up!’ Or how about-” His voice cracks, breaking as tears well up in his eyes. “How about ‘here’s my stupid name so you don’t wonder who left you behind? I love you, and I’m gonna come back for you?’ That would’ve been fucking sweet! But no, just- Just fucking outcasts but!”

Lucy knows all too well how much this line of questioning breaks him down, having watched this reprise dance out in front of her eyes over and over again. The first time- a brilliant flash of curiosity, a belief in a mystery to uncover. That gave away to frustration and to despair as the spark in his eyes grew dim with exhaustion and sadness. “Ko-” Lucy starts, putting a hand on his trembling shoulder.

“OUTCASTS BUT!?” he explodes, dropping the half of the locket against his chest and throwing his hands into the air. “Outcasts but what? Outcasts but- But we’re not anymore so see ya, sucker! Adios- Adios! See you never, loser! Fucking- Fuck-”

She pulls him into a tight hug, even though he’s still a head taller, and doesn’t give a flying fuck about the stranger behind them. “You’re not an outcast.”

Behind them, Kravitz stops Barry. “We should… Probably give them a moment…”

Barry watches Lucy’s lips move, but he doesn’t hear any sound. “I don’t think they can hear us. Cone of silence, I guess.”

“You going to explain what the deal was with you and the princess?”

Barry rubs his left temple, pushing one hand against his head. “I don’t know what to tell ya, honestly,” he says. “It- For a moment there, when we were talking, it was like I remembered everything.”

Kravitz looks at him, shocked. “What? You remembered your past? Who-”

“Not anymore. I saw… I saw these people, in a memory? I think they’re my family but… I saw…” he shakes his head. “I don’t know. I saw something and then just like that, everything slipped away. I don’t- I don’t think anything like that has happened before.”

Kravitz considers it over again- Who is Barry? His gut reaction, sealed away in the music box jammed back into Barry’s bag, comes to the surface and is shoved down with the same thought; He tried, he fought off the members of the Hunger, he ran them to the door himself, but it was no use. “Maybe stress brought it out?” he suggests instead.

“Is Lucy getting to you that bad?”

Kravitz glowers at him. “Is that her name?”

“That’s what Ko called her.”

“And he’s Ko?”

“That’s what she called him.”

Kravitz nods.

They stand there, for a long silence, pretending not to stare at Ko’s trembling form in Lucy’s arms. It’s a bit awkward, to say the least.

“How are you feeling?”

Kravitz glances at Barry once, twice. “What? I’m not sick.”

“No- No, about the plan.”

“Gods, I wish I could say I was confident, but I think I will be once we get those papers and get out of the country. Until then…. But it is fine, we will get the papers from Killian and then- She will help us, right? Even with the risks?”

“She will. We helped her get her girlfriend, that countess, out, anyway. She owes us.”

Kravitz shakes his head and says, “Still. It is risky. They closed down the border to the North already. It is a good thing we stumbled into this, otherwise I honestly don’t know if we will be able to get out of Tosun after this week.”

“You’re kidding,” Barry replies, sounding nervous. “If they’re already closing borders-”

“I know. It’s only a matter of time before they start jailing anyone who hasn’t sided with Hunger.”

Barry shakes his head. “I wish- I wish I had any idea how it got this bad. I mean- Regicide doesn’t necessarily end well ever, so I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, but-”

“It- I have lived here my entire life, Barry, and I cannot even get a legitimate job if I wanted to. Anyone who worked for, supported, or even talks about the Birds gets marked and blackballed. This whole idea of being bigger than existence, that life has no meaning except to transcend it? It’s all a little… Despondent. It’s sad, Barry. No one here has any hope for life anymore, and the people that still do are slowly crushed.”

“Yeah…” Barry says, trailing off.

Kravitz sighs sadly. “I miss…” he says, quietly. “I miss having hope. I miss believing in joy.”

“Yeah,” Barry says. “I do too.”

Finally, after a long moment, Ko pulls away from Lucy. “I’m okay. Thanks, Lucy.”

“I love you,” she tells him.

He smiles sadly. “I love you too.” He takes a deep breath, shakes himself, and ends the spell. “You two coming?” he calls to Kravitz and Barry.

“Uh, yeah!” Barry calls back, and they set off again.

It’s only a five minute walk before they reach the end of the tunnel. “Ugh, finally!” Ko calls out. “Your shortcut sucks, Kravitz!”

“We’re out the front of the castle now, so it works, doesn’t it?”

“Sure, if you feel like taking the scenic route through the catacombs.”

Kravitz just rolls his eyes, walking past the first pair to the wall at the end, sliding the false brick out to-

“Go! Run! I’ll cover you!” he hears his voice cry out.

Taako pulls him into a hug. “Thank you. Be safe, Kravitz. Please don’t die.”

“I’ll try,” he tells him, pushing him through the secret exit after Lup. “You don’t die either!”

“Me? Die?” Taako asks, laughing. “I’m immortal, darling! You wish I could die!”

He can still hear Taako’s laugh ringing in his ears... Barry shakes his shoulder again. “Krav? You good?”

“You better n- Oh. Oh, sorry, I’m fine,” Kravitz replies, flashing him a grin.

He turns back to the door and forces down the memories, sliding it open.

His eyes adjust to the bright light filtering through the bush blocking the entrance, and he peeks through it to see a crowd around the front of the castle. The tunnel, which opens to the far left of the front entrance, gives them just enough of a vantage point to see a stage with several people on it who they can only see the backs of.

“Shit!” Kravitz whispers to the others. “There’s a crowd.”

“What?!” Lucy cries out, peeking out the door at the scene. “Why are people gathered here?”

“Those spreading the lies of the Birds or the lie that any Bird still… flies, so to say, will not be tolerated,” a calm, even voice says above the crowd.

The four peeking through the bush shiver. Even the amnesiacs know that voice. 

Lucy pulls the staff she’d taken from her room out of her bag, gripping it like a lifeline. “John,” she whispers, horrified.

Barry double takes and then gapes at her. “You have a bag of holding?”

She makes a face screaming ‘Really? That’s what you’re asking?’ at him.

“Put that back,” Kravitz tells her, pushing it back towards her bag.

“What?! No! That’s-”

“That’s the leader of the country,” he finishes.

It’s like a gut punch to her, and her face crumples. She quietly puts away the staff.

“The Birds’ false message of joy, hope and love is a simple falsity. It threatens everything beautiful about what we can build out of this miserable shell of a world. Continuing to spread these lies will threaten the world that we have fought for, the world we long to build from the ashes of their…. Nauseating rule.”

“It’s fine,” Kravitz tells them. He eyes the distance between them and the crowd- it’s only a matter of feet. Too far to cross without a distraction unnoticed but… He glances up at the stage- On it, John is speaking, and just behind him, there are armed soldiers in front of two figures, both with their heads covered by a bag. His stomach sinks, but… But he knows that that gives them the distraction they need. “Follow my lead. Run for the edge of the crowd and blend in like you were there the entire time.”

They nod. Kravitz bites his lip and looks out at the stage.

“We are above them, friends. We really are. We are above this world, the cruel cycle of living and dying for nothing. We will rise above it.”

Ko twists the locket half in his fingers over and over again, his stomach fluttering with a fear he can’t trace.

“But. We can only do that if we are all on the same page.”

On queue, the soldiers unmask the two figures on stage, revealing a man and a woman. Barry recognizes them immediately- the merchant and the bard. “What?” he whispers, shocked, looking back to Kravitz. “But-”

Kravitz knows that is going to shake him to his core later, once he can move out of survival mode, but that’s not where he is now. Right now, he puts his finger to his lips and gets ready to bolt.

John turns to his soldiers, and two of them step behind the bard and a merchant and put a knife to their necks.

“No! No! Please!” the bard cries out.

It’s horrible, but Kravitz can’t afford to wrench his eyes shut like he wants to.

John nods, and Kravitz pulls Ko and Barry forward.

The four of them tear across the short gap between them and the crowd as two screams ring out into the air and two thumps as something hits the ground.

Kravitz reminds himself to feel nothing, that there will be time to panic later. He feels cold.

John, though- John looks out over the crowd, a sea of different reactions, most fairly muted, and his eyes settle over a small group at the very left edge of the crowd. All three of them are barely old enough to be adults and each one of them look shocked and horrified in a strength that never paints the faces of the people of Tosun anymore. This would be enough to peak his interest, but that’s not what does it.

In the middle of them is a tall man- blonde hair with dark roots just beginning to peak out underneath, brown skin with banana freckles dotting over his nose, dressed plainly with some sort of gold necklace around his neck. He’s crying, but that’s not what tips it over the edge. It’s not his resemblance to the pain in his ass in Neverwinter either. No, what catches John’s attention is a flash of magic- a powerful bond shining through him before quickly fading out of view- like a picture obscured by static.

He suddenly realizes that just perhaps, he should’ve led a little more weight to the rumors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that got dark! oops! 
> 
> anyway next chapter will probably be a bit lighter since killian's in it, and she's the light of my life so there's that, and then after that we should be able to move into my FAVORITE PART of this movie. i have another little surprise planned for around then (think: how do they get out of the country in the movie?)
> 
> alright i'm gonna stop spoiling my fic come yell at me and send me headcannons about davenchurch so i can fill the void i tore in my own heart with this one my blog's below


	4. An Interlude In the Dark of the Night I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John isn’t alone.

We see John, alone in his study. He’s at a desk in the center of the room, scowling at the reports on his desk- all say that all the Birds are dead, how could they be so wrong?!- from the night of the Doomed Ball, as his people have taken to calling it. 

John remembers everything about that sweet, sweet night. He remembers throwing open the gates to the castle, calling to the mob waiting outside and beckoning them forward. He remembers confronting Davenport, that so twisted from royal tradition, in that grand hall. He remembers the five terrified children- orphans, street children, dressed to the nines in finery that wasn’t there to claim. He remembers the many moments before, when a throne that had belonged to only the worthy had been so tarnished, the very throne that he had worked to hard to serve and uphold. That mentality is gone, now, burned in the heat and fervor of revolution. It was foolish anyways. The Birds had proved one of their points- blood was only blood. It did not destin any to a better rule, or to true understanding. That came with experience alone. When he saw the devastation the Birds had reeked on the way of royal blood, led by two of with true blood no less, he lost his faith in the station of nobility. He realized, in turn, the truth of the world; There is no point to this wretched world. There is no point in putting your hope in a brighter future. No, all you can do is either toil and suffer in a world against reason or you can plot to escape it.

He would escape this world by forging a new one, a world he would build from the ashes of the old, where there was no pointlessness, none torn lost of purpose, no foolish hope- all would have their destiny and all would work together and not a limit could stand in their way. 

“You’re not going to win with this, you know.” 

John looks around his empty study,  dim in the late afternoon hues that painted it. He’s alone- or, at least, he should be. 

“Why can’t you just stay dead?” 

“I don’t know, Hungry-man, why’d you have to  _ kill me _ ?” Merle asks, bitter as always.

John turns in his chair to stare at his long dead… Merle. He’s the only light in the room, now, a bright gold apparition in the center of it. His translucent face is frowning, but those kind eyes he resents are light. “So, are you a manifestation of my sins, the guilt I don’t have..?”

“I’ve told you before, I’m actual Merle, not the ghost of Merles past. Well, I am the ghost of Merle  _ passed,  _ so,” he says, voice rising at the end and pausing as through he’s waiting for a laugh. 

John very much doesn’t laugh. 

“Alright, tough crowd. Really gotta stop cracking jokes for the sake of the murderer of my entire family, but you know, can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” 

“I know your orphans are alive.” 

Merle shrugs. “Well, duh, some of my  _ kids _ are alive. Maggie and Lulu getting on your nerves again? ‘Cuz, well, good!”

“You know that’s not it. Taako. Barold and Lucretia live as well, if I’m not mistaken.” 

“Aw, shit,” Merle says with a laugh. “Guess the cat’s outta the bag on that one!” 

“How?!” John shouts, slamming his hands against his desk. “We stormed your castle, we slaughtered or laid ruin to everyone inside. Any survivors either fled the country or were dead before the week was out. How could  _ three  _ of them be living in my country, in my capitol?! How could we have not slain a single one of your street brats?!” 

“Careful with the pronouns there, Johnny boy, your nobleman side is coming through. Thought the rulers of the Hunger went mostly with ‘ours’,” Merle warns with a shiteating grin. 

“How?” John demands. 

“My kids are smarter than you. Than me too, to be honest. Guess that’s a parent’s hope, right? That the next generation will do better?” 

“Cut with the cleverness, Merle, how did they do it?” John asks.

He means it as menacing, but he fails his intimidation check and his desperation catches in the air and bleeds through his voice. 

“Oh, John,” Merle says, soft and sad. “What did I ever do to ya to deserve this? I coulda sworn we were friends.” 

“Friends with- Merle. You’re a good- You’re kind, Merle, and smarter than you seem, even if you refuse to use your education. Before anything else, though, I was your advisor. Nothing more.” 

“You know, I think I was a little rash in life.” 

“You think?” 

“I  _ think _ that ten years ago, when I still pushed air through these ol’ lungs, I would’ve bought a word of that sales pitch you’re wheeling my way.” 

John looks away, shaking his head. Fucking Merle. “How did they get out, Merle?”

“Fuck if I know! Even if I did, what good what that do ya? Keep your head stuck in the past and you can’t do any better in the future.” 

“Is Davenport alive too?” John asks. “Is that why you alone torment me so?” 

A warm smile crosses Merle’s face. “Ha! No. My dear husband just thinks you’re a fat sack of shit and a waste of time.” 

“You don’t think so?” 

“No, I totally agree with him on that front, I just think you might not be so far gone yet.” 

“Gone?” John asks, turning back to face him. “Merle, you can’t sway me to your broken ideals.” 

“Not hating life isn’t an ideal, John!” Merle cries. “God, you hate life so much you’d think you’re the dead one, not me. It’s a damn shame what you did to me, John. I loved life, I loved my family, I loved my kingdom, but as much I wish I was still kicking, I’m sadder for how you’re throwing everything you could have ahead of you away.” 

“What’s ahead of me,” John begins, standing to tower over the ghost of the dwarf. “Is a world that won’t remember any of your ‘kids’ or an ounce of your legacy.  _ That’s _ my future, Merle, and going to start the second I choke the life out of every last one of your filthy Birds.” 

Finally, the light leaves Merle’s eyes, the soft shine of tears all that remains of that stubborn hope. He frowns and shakes his head. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

He’s gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello! welcome to my cave! 
> 
> quick interlude before we move on with the plot! i mentioned my plans for the chapters last update but when i was running through my outline and i realized i needed to add my interlude before night time of the first day, which means it’s here. the interludes are always going to be chapters away from the core four that we’ve been following so far. there’s two kinds- the night ones with John and Merle, and In The Key to his Heart, but you’ll see who’s that with a bit later. i’d give you a hint, but someone’s already cracked right through my hint to the surprise i mentioned last chapter, so that’s all you get! i think they’ll be four interludes total, all kinda short. 
> 
> anyway i gotta wrap this up because this note is already longer than all of this interlude, but next chapter coming soon! i’m a bit behind on updates (not that i have a schedule lol) because i’m at disney right now, but it’ll be here sooner rather than later. oh, also, if i accidentally throw in some fireworks at some point in the fic, blame that and don’t roast me too hard lmao.


	5. Pasts Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killian shares some stories. Kravitz revisits an old love. Lucy grows up. Barry forgets and regrets. Ko... Who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sh pretend i kept up my chapter names as song title motif)

Kravitz plays the scene over and over again, turning it and twisting it, searching for a positive spin.

Leader Hunger, staring out into the crowd, fixating on his little party and then honing in on Ko. Kravitz doesn’t even realize it’s happening, not at first. It takes him too long to realize who he’s staring at exactly, and by the time he can even think to cast Pass Without A Trace, the leader’s face sours.

There’s really no way to play that off as a good thing, huh? It only meant one thing- time to get out of the country as fast as humanly possible.

He doesn’t even know these people, not really, but- No time to waste on that line of thought. He casts Detect Magic, and horrifyingly, Ko lights up with a spell from the school of enchantment. That- That worries him, but he’s acting completely normal. He tries Dispel Magic, but- What?! How is that spell that high level? He thinks it over and over- Is this risk worth it? Is whatever’s on him a big enough threat to throw this away? If he’s caught the leader’s attention, should he bail out?

He weighs his options- the trip to Neverwinter, the goal of getting an audience with the expat princess, the reward is all pointless, out the window if he doesn’t have Ko. They couldn’t wait to find another look alike. They don’t have the time, not before this and certainly not now that the leader just stared down Barry like that. Even if they just left him behind, even if they could get Lucy to somehow trust them over him, it doesn’t matter. They need their Taako. With the added bonus of Barry gaining the leader's attention, Tosun has decided for them that they can no longer stay.

It's a risk he has no option but to take.

The others argue and complain, but he can’t waste time when it’s dwindling down around him. It takes them about an hour, but they make it all the way across the city to a quaint little shop on the corner of a quiet street. It’s front is a pawn shop- a rather nice one, even, for the city- but most around know what the store is really for, even if Killian herself denies it. She’s sitting at a comically-short desk at the front when they enter, fiddling with a wooden duck.

“Killian!” Kravitz greets with a smile he doesn’t feel.

“Aw shit,” Killian says the second she sees him. “Never a good sign to see your sorry faces.”

Barry grins and waves from behind Kravitz. “Good to see you too, Killian.”

The half-orc woman crosses her arms and glares at them. “Coming to collect?”

“Unfortunately,” Kravitz admits. “It’s about high time we get out of this city.”

This visibly worries her. “What? You two are leaving? This city must be falling apart.” she remarks.

“Keep your voice down,” he tells her, moving closer to her desk. “We might’ve been followed.”

She doesn’t look amused. “What did you get wrapped into now?”

Kravitz steps to the side, revealing the makeshift royals- two poorly-dressed orphans. Lucy is studying the store as Ko calls, “Hail and well met!”

“Huh,” Killian says. “You know they’re spitting images of the Royals, right? Just like I’ve always said your partner is? Do you just like picking up loose, disenfranchised princes and princesses or what?”

He cocks his head at her. “How did you know that- I’ve told you before that Barry isn’t- Well, actually, the jury’s really out on that situation right now, so- but that’s beside the point. I need exit papers for all four of us and IDs for the two of them.”

Killian looks over Kravitz cautiously, not committing to anything.

“Please,” Kravitz says. “You owe me. Carey’s safe.”

Killian shakes her head, wipes a hand across her forehead, and sighs deeply. “One condition.”

“Yes?”

“I’m coming.”

Kravitz almost grins at that. “What? You wanna leave Tosun?”

“I- Well, business has been slow, so…” she tries, but she shakes her head when she spots Kravitz’ growing grin. “Alright. You caught me. I miss her. I’d like to make it out of this shit show alive to see her.”

“Killian, it’d be my pleasure to bring you with us in our bid for Neverwinter.”

This takes her back again, although not nearly as much as before. “Why are you, Mr. Practicality himself, interested in Neverwinter?”

This fucking prize money was going to be split so many ways… “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you if we make it there.”

“Fair enough,” she says, looking past him again to Ko and Lucy. “You two got names?”

“I’m Taako. You know, the prince?” Ko replies smoothly.

Lucy raises her hand a bit. “I’m Lucy.”

“You’re not going to get through the border with the name ‘Taako’,” she tells them. “Either of you got last names?”

“Avi- Hm. Uh, no,” Lucy tries.

"Were you going to say Avian?" Killian asks, voice hard.

Lucy presses her lips together and says nothing.

She leans back towards Kravitz and says, "Is there any reason that you have two Royal lookalikes with the names of the actual Birds?"

He pretends to look contemplative. "Hm, quite the coincidence?"

Killian sighs deeply again. She points at Ko- “You’re Justin,” -and then to Lucy- “and you’re Griffin, and your last name is, uh... McElroy. Don’t forget that.”

Ko shrugs. “Okay, I dig it.”

“Isn’t Griffin a man’s name?” Lucy says.

Ko snorts, and both he and Killian say in practical unison, “Gender isn't real.”

Barry is immediately sent into peals of laughter.

Killian nods approvingly, an interested expression shining through her apathy. “Yeah, alright, Prince. Hey Bar, you still sticking with Bluejeans for your last name?”

“Killian, I swear to you, it is my actual last name.”

“You have amnesia.”

“It just feels right!”

She rolls her eyes, grabbing a notepad and scribbling down what she needed to be made up. “This shouldn’t take too long, I can have them done by tomorrow.”

Kravitz winces. “Can you have them done in an hour? Less?”

She stares at him like he’s insane. “Krav, what the fuck have you gotten yourself wrapped up in?”

“I promise I’ll explain everything the second we’re out.”

“Well, then I guess you’ll just have to tell me tomorrow.”

Kravitz grits his teeth, looking back at his companions before turning to lean closer to Killian. “Your Royal comment was right on the nose. I- I’m not going to lie, I barely know who these people are- well, besides Barry- but the resemblance is too good to question. I’m going to try to turn them in for the reward money.”

Killian looks at him like he’s stupid. “Kravitz. I worked at the castle. I dated a duchess. You really weren’t going to let me in on this?”

He shrugs. “We have the exact same insider information.”

“That’s bull,” Killian tells him. “You were way too busy fawning over Prince Taako to pay attention to any of the others and you know it.”

Kravitz face immediately tints pink and his jaw drops. “Fawning- Killian! I was not!”

His shocked cry catches the attention of the rest of the party. “Fawning over who?” Ko asks.

“You should’ve seen him,” Killian teases, nodding to Barry. “Prince Taako would walk by and this kid would melt.”

“Kid- I’m two years younger than you!”

“Ohh,” Ko says, his tone already sinking Kravitz’ stomach. “So you picked me out in the marketplace right away because you were searching for your lost love, hm?”

Kravitz opens and closes his mouth. “I- That is not why!”

Killian’s already cackling. “That is- That’s perfect. Really, Krav, when was the last time you showed your sensitive side?”

He feels the urge to fume and fights it down. “Can you please go finish the papers as fast as possible?”

“Fine, fine, it’ll take fifteen minutes. We’re packing light, right?”

“We’ve pretty much got nothing at all, so only bring the essentials.”

She nods and ducks into the backroom. She pokes her head back out- “You can help yourself to whatever you want! I’m officially going out of business!” -and disappears inside.

Kravitz feels someone bump his arm, and he turns to see Ko with an absolutely shit-eating grin. “So, what was that about your crush?” he asks, leaning up against the desk.

It’s in that exact moment that Kravitz realizes that yes, the resemblance to the late prince really is striking. He… Uh. “Well- It’s- Uhm-” Holy shit, Kravitz, get your shit together! You aren’t fourteen anymore! He clears his throat and tries again- “You know how it is, being a kid and being around royalty. You get crushes.”

“So you liked him, then?” Ko says. “Or- Me, I guess.”

Kravitz laughs a bit too hard at that. “Well, uh, yes. You could say that.”

His head tilts a little bit, and his golden-brown eyes catch the light in just the right way- God, Kravitz was gay. “How old were you when you worked at the castle, anyway? Hasn’t it been a decade since that whole Royal deal?”

“I worked there from ten to fourteen,” he says, focusing on the facts and trying to get his shit together.

The playful teasing drops from Ko’s face. “What? That’s so young.”

Kravitz just shrugs. “Well, yeah. My family died around then and it was either that or the orphanage.”

“Oh,” he says, his face darkening. “I didn’t realize I was playing an, uh, accomplice to something as dark as a reign with child labor.”

He laughs. Somehow, it’s equal parts endearing and sad to remember that yeah, child labor is fucked up. Still, the tone of his voice is all wrong. “Dark?” he asks, because he isn’t sure where Ko’s mind is going.

Ko shrugs, his eyes moving up and away from Kravitz’ gaze as he shifts. “Well- I went to the orphanage. Duh. I get child labor, and that shit sucks. It’s a little… Nah, nevermind, forget I said anything.”

“What?” Kravitz says suddenly, caught off guard. Oh- He totally got the wrong idea from that, didn’t he? “No, no, the Birds- Working at the castle is one of the best things I’ve ever done. Working… Working is probably a strong term. Officially, I was a bard for the court but… Well, everyone knows that the Birds loved orphans. I played a lot and composed some things, but it was a lot less ‘work’ than it was living a grand life under the guise of work.”

The mirth that was there before returns to Ko. “Oh, no way.”

Kravitz flashes a smile. “Well, yeah. I told you, your highness, you’re incredible.”

Ko snickers, waving a hand at him. “Don’t let Lucy hear that- it drives her nuts. Anyway, that wasn’t what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“You’re a bard!” Ko cackles. “I can’t believe it!”

Kravitz eyes narrow at him. So much for endearing. “What’s wrong with being a bard?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Ko says, trying to play it straight. He fails miserably, devolving into cackles again. “Where’s your lute?”

Moment ruined. “Haha, very funny," he replies bitterly.

“Pshh, what? I thought you liked me!”

“Maybe I did like Taako a decade ago, you know, long before you made fun of my lute,” he mopes, looking to Barry for sympathy.

To Barry’s credit, he tries. He also happens to fail miserably the second that Lucy breaks, the pair of them devolving into giggles. “Laugh at me all you want, Bluejeans, you know we wouldn’t be anywhere without my charisma!”

The three of them fall apart with laughter. “You didn’t even deny having a lute!” Ko cries between frantic gasps for air.

“I’m barely even a bard any- It doesn’t matter. Whatever, like any of your classes are any better!” Kravitz tells them, trying to will the blush growing on his face away.

Ko is able to quell his laughter to answer with a casual, “Oh, wizards are better than bards. Natch.”

Barry stares down at his hands. “I actually don’t know. I think I’m a fighter?”

That comment sends Lucy even deeper into her laughter, unable to even answer.

Kravitz’ pride doesn’t exactly survive the wait, but soon enough, Killian re-enters. “Were you all giggling out here?”

Ko shrugs guiltily. He tells her, “You gave us some solid gold with my secret admirer.”

Killian just shakes her head. “You two a giggly bunch usually, then?” she asks, gesturing towards him and Lucy.

The two share a look. “Not exactly,” Lucy answers, her face falling.

“Mood killer,” he sings, deftly avoiding that line of questioning. “Let’s talk more about how the bard is in love with me.”

“I’m not in love with you!” Kravitz cries.

Killian fake-pouts. “Oh no, you made him grumpy.”

Kravitz crosses his arms, fuming and refusing to answer. Instead, he casts detect magic again. It's a blessing in disguise that his teasing turned him off from that line of thought, as the spell is still there, still swirling around Ko with this light blue, staticky energy. It still reads as enchantment. It’s still a too high level for him to dispel. His stomach churns. Even if they can't do this without him, he still needs to be wary.

Instead, Killian lays out six pieces of paper- two much smaller, each an ID with McElroy, Justin and McElroy, Griffin written on them respectively. Each member of the party also has a respective exit paper, all with the same reason written on them-

“Forced expulsion?” Lucy reads, looking to Killian. “That’s our safest bet?”

Killian nods. “Believe it or not, it’s about the only way to get out of here. It’s only awarded to those dishonorably discharged from the military. I think it’s to make sure there can’t be an armed resistance against the Hunger, but whatever the case, it’s our best chance out.”

Lucy reads over it again and considers it, but she’s still frowning and her eyebrows are knitted together. “What if this goes completely wrong? What if we get to the border and we find out that ‘forced expulsion’ means ‘execution away from the public’s eyes’? That’s a very real possibility here.”

“I wish I had another option, but this is our best and- Well, it’s pretty much our only bet,” Killian admits. “We don’t really have enough time to figure anything else either. It’s already almost six.”

“Shit,” Kravitz swears. “We need to go. Last train leaves at eight.”

Lucy sighs deeply. “We can’t leave if we’re not certain what will happen to us. If we leave now, if we rush into this, we could die.”

“If we stay, we will definitely die,” Kravitz tells her. “So, I like our chances for going.”

“Fine,” Lucy agrees. “But if we’re doing this, we’re not doing it looking even a bit like the Royals. We’re mitigating every risk.”

“Alright,” Kravitz says. “Easily enough done. Anyone have any preferences?”

“Make me look like fantasy Ryan Gosling,” Barry says.

“Ooh! I also want to look like fantasy Ryan Gosling,” Ko tells him.

“How about a human but still really jacked?” Killian suggests.

Lucy just gives them all a deep sigh. After, though, she says, “Just- Older, I guess. So I couldn’t possibly be Lucretia because of the age gap.”

Kravitz rolls his eyes at all of them and casts Seeming. For his own part, he really doesn’t do much to his appearance- the details on his face change a bit, but nothing else does, really. He still has the same stature, the same dreadlocks, the same dark brown skin and warm brown eyes, but it’s all a little off, a little different. Just enough that he isn’t immediately recognizable.

The shift in Lucy is similar- she still has all of the same features, they’re just aged now, twenty years older. It’s a shocking change but not unwelcome one, and Killian stares just a bit too long.

Killian’s transformation is much more dramatic. Her green skin and tusks disappear, melting away into warm brown skin. Just as she asked, she’s absolutely jacked, but she’s a foot shorter now, and her jacket is a lot baggier than it was before. She fixes her belt and tugs it to a few sizes smaller.

Ko and Barry are identical replications of, yes, fantasy Ryan Gosling, except Ko is a foot taller than Barry. It’s… Something.

The two of them look over each other, both laughing as they do so. “We’re twins!” Barry cheers.

“Ko, we’re supposedly related,” Lucy points out.

“No, don’t take this away from me!” Ko cries. “I’m beautiful! I was before but I’m also beautiful now!”

Kravitz rolls his eyes and changes the spell, switching Ko’s form. His image changes, and suddenly he’s twenty years older as well, with the same light hair and deep brown skin as Lucy. His hair is a bit longer, twisted on top of his head in neat knots. “Well, at least I’m still definitely, uh, hot as hell,” Ko says. He points to Barry, though, shouting intensely, “You cherish fantasy Ryan Gosling, Barold. You cherish him!”

Barry puts a hand over fantasy Ryan Gosling’s heart. “I will never forget our brief but impactful twin-ship.”

Ko snorts. “Oh, hey, Bluejeans is witty! Who knew! We rolling or what?”

Barry looks a little offended, but Kravitz pats him on the shoulder. “I knew, bud.”

“Thanks, Krav.”

The five of them take off across the city, carefully making their way through the back allies per Kravitz’ guidance. He carefully leads them around the main streets, lurking through the mostly untrodden paths of the area. For this time of night, the streets are surprisingly empty. Usually, he'd see handfuls of anxious parents and hurrying twenty-somethings rushing through the streets to get out of the chill of winter and into the warmth of their homes. It takes too long for it to click that work must've been called off when the leader called together the announcement earlier. When it does, Kravitz fights off a chill that doesn't come from the air.

It's his nervous look around that catches Killian's attention. “Krav, what’s with the path we’re taking?”

“What, you don’t appreciate a backway every now and again?” he tries, peeking down a street as they walk past it.

She follows his gaze before glancing back at him suspiciously. “... I guess?”

Kravitz simply puts his hands out in a that’s that sort of gesture and continues on. He looks around the allies again- no average traffic, but no soldiers rushing in to arrest them all, so that's a plus- and tries to keep some semblance of calm. His mind wanders back to the scene in front of the castle earlier, that hard look in- but no, he can’t do that to himself. He has to keep them going, get them to the train and get them aboard before it’s too late. He just hopes too late hasn’t already crept up on them. They’re fine, though. They’re fine! They look nothing like the figures the leader of the entire fucking nation picked out of a crowd earlier. They’re fine!

“Alright, you’re clearly not fine,” Killian tells him.

“What?” Kravitz says with a start.

Killian takes a peek at the other three, but if they notice what’s going on, they carefully avert her gaze. “You’re mouthing ‘we’re fine’ over and over again.”

“...Huh.”

“Yeah. Want to explain that?”

“So... Alright, this is going to sound insane.”

“Bud, can I- Can I be frank? You look pretty insane right now, mouthing to yourself.”

Kravitz nods repeatedly. “Yeah, uh- Yeah. That’s fair. But-” he leans in close to Killian and whispers, “I don’t think I know these people as well as I thought I did.”

“You mean the two of them?” she asks, gesturing to Ko and Lucy.

Kravitz shakes his head. “I don’t think I know any of them.”

“What?” Killian asks, brow furrowing. “Krav, come on, we both know who Barry-”

Before she can finish the statement, the two are pushed slightly to the side as Ko worms his way in between them. “Hello! Hey, yes- Yes, it’s me, it’s Ko, now, you wanna share your mysterious muttering with the class or…?”

Killian just winces, pressing her lips together and shaking her head, signaling that she’d really rather not dive into that one.

Kravitz gives her a look that just screams betrayal. “No,” he tries. “Well- We were just talking about how we don’t really know you guys.”

“Uh huh,” Ko says, easy as anything. “Well, as I said before, I’m Ko, and you know Lucy, we’re orphans, but not the dumb, easy to manipulate orphans you thought we were before? That’s about it.”

“That’s it?” Killian questions. “No… No idea of your family or any life details, accomplishments…?”

Ko gives her a grin. “You want the long version? Fine by me, my man. Here’s the deal- like ten years ago, we both got dumped at an orphanage at the same time. I literally don’t remember shit before that, so the two of us just kicked it together. And then like last week, we got kicked out and we started squatting in an empty castle, and then today these two hooligans wrapped us into their extortion plot.”

Killian raises an eyebrow. “You don’t remember anything before that?”

“Nope,” Ko answers, popping the p. “Well, I mean, I know I’m royalty and all that before that, but the details painfully slipped away from me after my harrowing escape.”

“Krav, that sounds a lot like someone we know.”

Kravitz makes a dismissive noise. “Psh, what, Barry? You think they’re related?”

Killian just shrugs and adds, “Hey, it’s a weird coincidence.”

“Yeah, coincidence,” Kravitz emphasizes. “It’s a coincidence. What are you teasing at, anyway?”

“Nah, nevermind it. Besides, you’re clearly worried about something besides that and we’re getting kinda close to the station, so you better share that with the gang before we rush into an already sticky situation without the full deal.”

"I already said what I was worried about," Kravitz lies.

"I'm calling insight check on that bullshit," Ko says, looking him over. "You went from confident to checking over our shoulder. What's the change?"

Kravitz makes a pained face.

"Come on, Krav, spill all your secrets!"

He stops short, putting his head in his hands and hissing out, “I saw the leader staring at you.”

“What?!” Lucy shrieks. Clearly, any semblance of pretending to not be eavesdropping is abandoned. “What do you mean he was staring at Ko?!”

“He was looking over the crowd,” Kravitz explains, his voice flooding with panic. “and he stopped, and for a second I thought he was watching me, but I realized he was staring over the three of you. He was watching the three of you for a couple seconds, but something about Ko... I don't know, caught his eye? I saw this… Flash? A flash of bright red in his eyes? I already cast detect magic on him, there’s…”

Kravitz considers the group for a long moment. Barry, who he loves dearly but is a nervous wreck already confused as hell around this entire situation. Killian, brave but calculative. Lucy, who is loyal to Ko above all else. Ko, who’s under a- He casts detect magic again, wincing at the waste of three spell slots on the same first level spell, but needing to know. That same light blue, staticky glow around him. School: enchantment. Too high level to dismiss with dispel magic.

Ko, who’s under a spell. Ko, who they need desperately.

“There’s nothing,” he finishes. “But it’s still worrying.”

“A flash of-” Lucy repeats. This time, Kravitz watches Lucy stare intently at Ko before relaxing, sighing in relief. She seems to remember herself, though, because barely a second later, her brow furrows. “But- What?!”

“I felt it.”

Everyone snaps to Ko, shocked.

“What do you mean?” Barry asks. “You felt what?”

“It was- It- Alright, guys, let me preface this with I know this sounds insane? But- For literally as long as I can remember, every once in a while, I feel this- this heat? In my chest. And sometimes, a voice calling out through it? It’s really fucking weird, not gonna lie. When he stared me down, it- Well, it was kind of like that, but it wasn’t- It didn’t feel natural, like how it normally does? It felt like it was plucked- like someone tugged on my chest?”

Lucy pales. “What?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Uh, it's not like we had time to whip out the scroll and recast. Krav here basically took off the second after it happened, and besides, we just did it this morning. I felt the spell and it’s definitely not waning. I’m all good here, not gonna drag back the group for a weird feeling.”

“Ko, this is- This is the- Fuck, Kravitz, how long do we have until the train?” she asks, stopping short.

“Not enough time to even pause. Come on, we have to keep moving and you need to keep your voice down,” he tells her.

“Shit,” Lucy swears again. "Ko-"

“The spells still up, right?” Ko questions, an uncharacteristic tone of nervousness rising in his voice.

“Yes, I just checked it.”

“Alright, you have to tell us what you’re talking about,” Killian tells them.

“What? I already did!” Ko argues.

Killian holds up a hand to him and nods to Lucy. “What’re you worried about?”

Lucy purses her lips. “Well… Uh, long, awful story short, I cast a spell on Ko every couple weeks because he has a really powerful bond that he can be tracked through.”

The reactions of the rest of the party are about what Kravitz expects- Barry laughs hysterically, Killian cards her hands through her hair and looks at Kravitz like he's dragged her straight into hell- except for Ko. Ko looks shocked, his nose scrunched and eyes blown wide.

“What?!” Ko cries. “What do you mean I have a magical bond that I can be tracked through?”

Did- Wait, how could he not know?

“I’m sorry, Ko, I promise you I will explain everything the second we get a moment of downtime, but right now, we really need to keep moving and I promise you this isn’t the kind of conversation we can have on the move.”

“Why not?!” Ko demands. “I’m game to have a complete breakdown while on the move, try me!”

He had to have known.

“No, Ko- It will stir up too much static, and I need you right now,” Lucy pleads with him.

“What?!” Ko asks frantically. “Is there- What does this have to do with the spell?”

That's when it clicks. Charm person, modify memory, confusion- all of those are enchantment school spells. The one he's been seeing on Ko all day is similar- but what is it?

“It-It protects you from being tracked- at least, it should’ve, but we’re too close to too many people, and I think you’re remembering more-”

“Remembering?” Ko repeats, horror dawning on his face. “What- My past, I- Did you take it? Is that why-"

"Please, just stop thinking about them! Just trust me, I'm so sorry, you can't remember her but-"

"Who can't I remember? Who?!"

On the last word, his voice cracks and Ko freezes. He falls behind the rest, clutching his head and making a tiny, pained noise. Lucy whirls around the second she hears it, running to him. “Oh, no, Ko, I told you!”

Kravitz does nothing. He stands shocked, watching, horrified.

“Is he alright?” Barry calls.

“He’s- He’ll be fine,” she tells him. “Ko, can you come back to me?”

He doesn’t answer, staring blankly ahead of him.

“Shit,” she says, patting his face lately. “Please, Ko, come on…”

“What’s… Is he…?” Kravitz says, staring at the scene without any clue of how to comment on it. He looks totally fine besides his apparent disconnect from reality. Kravitz wastes his last first level spell slot to cast detect magic one more time- same staticky, enchantment-school magic, unchanged from the last time he checked. He still doesn't recognize it. "Is it a panic attack?”

“Uh, no- well, actually, that’s similar,” she says, her shoulders sagging when she waves a hand in front of his face and his eyes don’t even seem to register it. She takes a long, sad sigh before picking him up bridal style. “He’ll be fine soon, but we need to go.”

Killian’s eyes practically pop out of her head. Kravitz wants to call her on it, make some joke about her girlfriend waiting in Neverwinter, but the situation definitely doesn’t warrant it. Admittedly, it might also be because he’s concerned for their Taako.

He nods to Lucy and they head off again towards the train station. Killian comes close to him, whispers, “Maybe you’re right to be a bit paranoid…”

Kravitz gives her a solid look of duh, no shit!

It’s only Barry, once the group sets off again, that lingers back towards Lucy and Ko, and it’s only because of a gut feeling he has that her holding him is backward somehow. Upside-down compared to a pattern he doesn’t remember. He doesn’t comment on that, but after a long, awkward silence, he asks the same question again. “Is he okay?”

Lucy gives him a soft smile. “I don’t know, Barry. It doesn’t usually hit him this hard…”

“What doesn’t- What happened to him?”

“I can’t explain it right now. It’ll only make the static worse for him.”

That makes his heart sick in a way he doesn’t expect. He keeps feeling that, recently, that sickness he can’t place.

“Barry- You- You’re a brilliant wizard, and you know these kinds of bonds. Do you think their bond- Is our only fear being tracked right now, or can he do worse with this?”

Barry gives her a confused look. “Lucy, I’m a fighter.”

That sends her into a peel of laughter, high and disbelieving. “Good one, Bar.”

He doesn’t drop the confused look.

“You- Barry, you’re kidding?”

He isn’t sure how to answer.

She sobers in an instant. “You know you’re a wizard, right?”

He just shakes his head. “No, I’m- I’m serious, I’m a fighter.”

“Barry, how much do you remember?”

Barry flashes her a guilty smile. “Well, I know I remembered more earlier, but-”

Her face falls and his heart is clawing at him again. He thinks he remembers a certain pattern on a bedsheet, a quiet tone of voice to use, but the memories are scattered and disjointed.

“-but… I’m sorry, Lucy, I’ll be honest, I- I don’t remember what we talked about earlier. I’m sorry, I know it seemed important but my memory really doesn’t, uh, love sticking around…”

She stares at him for a long, long moment. He tries not to feel awkward under it, looking up to where the people he actually remembers his history with are whispering to each other. He also fails at fighting down a quick pop of jealousy that bubbles to the surface- how come he’s suddenly left out of all of the plots, now that he’s a fake Royal? He got left out of the loop so fast it makes his head spin.

“What happened to you?” she asks him bluntly.

It pulls him out of that line of thought in an instant. “Well… I don’t know. That’s why I really want to go to Neverwinter- besides, obviously, the fabulous wealth and the way out of the uh-” he whispers this part- “the dictatorial regime.”

“To… find your past?” she supplies.

“More to find a cleric, really. The only doctors here are government-issued now and according to them it was initially from blunt trauma and now from post-traumatic stress disorder, which, I don’t know, would I remember something that caused something like that?”

The corner of her lip quirks up. She says, “Not if you have amnesia,” with just a touch of humor.

He smiles sheepishly. “I guess you got me there.”

She smiles at the ground and shakes her head. It’s a sweet little moment, but it shouldn’t warrant the ache that shoots up from his chest yet again. At the rate he’s feeling that lately, he should really be trying to find a cleric for a cure for heartburn, but… Well, he just feels guilty. Especially after how excited she seemed to have him remember her.

So, he apologizes- “I’m sorry, Lucy. That I don’t remember what you wanted me to.”

“No, you don’t need to apologize.”

“But you really seemed happy when I did, and-”

“I mean it, Barry. Really,” she repeats. “If I were holding grudges for forgetting things, then I’d have some serious beef to work out.”

She looks down absently at the man she’s carrying, too deep in thought to really see him, and that’s when Barry sees that he winces a bit at her sentence and then blinks it off. “Ko?” he says, shocking Lucy out of her train of thought. “You good?”

“Uh… Yeah?” he says, slowly. “Why am I vertical?”

Lucy carefully puts him down, helping him back onto his legs. He wavers for a moment but shakes it off. “Sorry, Ko, you had an, uh, episode.”

“What? I haven’t had one that bad in… Uh, a while.” He notices Barry standing with them as they fall behind Kravitz and Killian and the tips of his ears flush red, drooping as he looks away.

Barry catches a hint and takes a few steps away. He runs a little bit to catch up to Kravitz and Killian, but he realizes that they’re pressed up against the edge of the wall ahead, peaking out of the end of the alleyway.

“Guys?” he calls back to the orphans. “We’re here.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the hot absence there! this chapter was really fighting me. no worries tho! next chapter is already half written! we're officially moving now!

**Author's Note:**

> i'm really excited to get into this au (even if im ALREADY enraged at myself for who i killed off this round wow)!
> 
> thanks to nurseydcx on tumblr for letting me steal her au idea like the absolute vulture i am lmao 
> 
> speaking of tumblr come yell at me stuff about this au because i love it so much? lonelyjournal-keeper.tumblr.com


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